The Upside Of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre/Themes: YA, Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Release Date: April 11th 2017
Page Count: 336
Format: ARC/Audiobook
ISBN: 9780062348708
Author Website | BookDepository | Amazon | Chapters/Indigo
(more like a 4.75! this book was great!)
Initial Post Reading Thoughts
I know, I’m so behind in reading this book…but I’m kind of glad I waited for the hype to die down a little before finally picking this one up. It was one of my most anticipated of the year and it definitely did not disappoint! I loved the story, the characters and everything in between!
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful. Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back. There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
What I Liked
The diverse characters. All of the characters were pretty great within this story and all for their own reasons. I loved both Molly & Cassie and their twin sisterly relationship. This story explores both of them as they come of age and start discovering who they are as separate people. It shows how this can put a strain on a relationship, but also how it can further strengthen it. I loved all of the side characters and how diverse all of them were. We were blessed with multiple lesbian/gay/bisexual characters as well as characters that come from different cultural backgrounds. Honestly, the diversity of characters was fantastic!
The mention of anxiety. Our main character Molly deals with anxiety and it is mentioned throughout the novel. It is even stated that Molly takes Zoloft to help her deal with her anxiety. What I really loved though was that no one made a big deal about it. It was just something that was a part of Molly and that everyone accepted as normal. No one made a big deal about it and it definitely did not become the focal point of the overall story.
The pacing. The Upside Of Unrequited was really fast paced and in the best way possible. The story was constantly moving and it never had a dull or boring moment. I read through this book quite quickly and I was always completely engaged!
Reid. Who DOESN’T love Reid after reading this novel? Honestly, he was adorable. His friendship/relationship with Molly was adorable. I just loved Reid so much okay.
The tone & feel. Sure, there were some dramatic and heartfelt moments, but for the most part this book was completely upbeat and positive the entire time which was wonderful! I tend to prefer darker and more serious contemporary novels, but I think it’s great to read a happier book every once in a while and The Upside Of Unrequited was exactly that.
The little easter egg! All I’m saying is if you’ve read Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, you may have noticed a quick appearance by a few characters from that book in The Upside To Unrequited. I loved this quick little small connection!
What I Didn’t Like
The hype? It’s not that I really disliked anything about this novel, because I really did love everything about it. It’s just that, even though I waited for the hype surrounding this novel to die down before I read it, my standards were still maybe set a little too high. When I read Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, the hype was real and I was left feeling a little underwhelmed. This time around, I waited a few months and I definitely wasn’t as underwhelmed this time around, I still felt like I was missing out on something. Honestly, I barely took any points off for this though. This book was really solid.
Overall, The Upside Of Unrequited was everything that I needed at the moment. It was a fast-paced, fun and upbeat contemporary read and I absolutely adored it!
About The Author
Becky Albertalli was born and raised in the Atlanta, GA suburbs. Shas been writing stories since preschool. Generally about her pets. She is three years older than her sister and twelve years older than her brother. She is an extraordinarily picky eater. She really loves ice cream, though. And most desserts. She is Jewish, despite her Italian last name. She has attempted and spectacularly failed at almost every sport. She rocked t-shirts from the Nature Company basically every day of middle school. She actually did fail sex ed in sixth grade (the diagrams were slightly overwhelming). She wrote and directed a tragic play at age twelve with a plot that borrowed heavily from a Lurlene McDaniel novel. She read a whole lot of The Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. She, in all seriousness, wanted to be Mary Anne Spier, but was a total Mallory Pike. She fell hard for Harry Potter at age sixteen and never grew out of it. She was briefly but powerfully obsessed with anime in high school. She has dazzled audiences with moving portrayals of Townsperson, Lady in Waiting, Chorus, and Hairy Ishmaelite. She went to college in Connecticut and totally freaked out about all of the snow. She and her college friends once created their own likenesses on the Sims, and it was all fun until Sim Becky burned the Sim house down and then peed herself. She majored in psychology and avoided hard sciences whenever possible. She studied abroad at St. Andrews in Scotland, which had nothing to do with Prince William being there at the time. Nothing at all. She moved to Washington, D.C. after college and eventually earned a doctorate in clinical psychology. She met her husband playing kickball.
Thank you for reading!
Big City Bookworm 
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